What's your job and is it your "bliss"?

We have have all have to run the rat race at one stage or another. Are you still in it?

What would you do if you could choose to change everything? And what's stopping you from doing it?

I've been out of the corporate rat race since 2005. However, since I'm not independently wealthy, I still have to work which means I'm still in a rat race of sorts - although a much more chill one and one where I primarily race against myself. It's not my "bliss" but I also know that I would be unable to never work again. Not for financial reasons but because that's how my brain works. I need some sort of stimulation or I go just a bit loopy.

I still have to work which means I'm still in a rat race of sorts - although a much more chill one and one where I primarily race against myself. It's not my "bliss" but I also know that I would be unable to never work again. Not for financial reasons but because that's how my brain works. I need some sort of stimulation or I go just a bit loopy.

I agree with you, everyone needs to have a reason to get up in the morning. I could never imagine not doing something productive. From what I understand you are able to support yourself via a laptop and a internet connection, which I think is absolutely amazing!

I just remember between the ages of 20-30's, working so hard and being so concerned about "making it" that I forgot who I was. Society also put so much pressure on to you to conform to this rat race mentality.

My sept brother for example, works about 55-60 hours a week, leaves the house at 6 and gets home at 9. Yes he earns a whole heaps of money, but is he happy? Nope, in fact he has turned into a bit of a dick!

But ever since he was a kid, he wanted to go to Africa and every now and again, he will email me a picture of one of these overland 4x4 house trucks that he is going to buy and tour from Ethiopia to South Africa. But ten years later he still has not done it and now he is developing heart problems due to stress. And the only thing stopping him is himself (and his trophy wife)......sorry...rant over!

Yeah, I've done the hard-core hours thing. I still remember back in the day before I had internet at home working at 2 AM at the coffee shop down the street from my apartment crunching budget numbers to present at an 8 AM meeting. The last thing I'd do before bed and the first thing I'd do in the morning would be look at my crackberry. I'd have to leave movies, dinners and dates to take calls from my boss about client emergencies. After 3 years of that I was so stressed out and unhappy that I would get half way to work and be physically ill. I couldn't get past Dupont Circle and when I finally gave my notice they asked if it was because of health reasons because I'd been taking so much time off work. Who needs that?!?

Now I work when I want to, don't when I don't and I'm able to do it from anywhere in the world. Can't beat that with a stick. The project that I was working on when I quit finally ended 4 years later (5 years and $500+ million over budget - gotta love Congress) and, aside from not being able to attend the opening where I'd have gotten the chance to rub elbows with some very cool people (including the President...not that Bush was cool), and no longer getting the 6 figure salary, I never regretted leaving my job and starting to do my own thing. Sometimes I miss working with other people but then I go volunteer for a while and I usually get over it pretty quickly when I have to report on my progress to other people.

I work in finance and I really, really want out but there are just too many blockers at the moment.

1) While my degree is in an entirely different field, I've worked in finance ever since graduating so it's the only place I have any experience. If I change industries, I'll be starting from scratch.

2) I know I don't want to do this job any more but I'm not 100% sure what I do want to do.

3) I earn decent money doing what I do and I'm saving up for a big trip; 6 - 12 months on the road, so switching to a potentially more fulfilling but almost certainly lower paid job just doesn't make sense right now.

My loose plan is to keep doing what I do until the start of next year, then jack it all in, travel until I decide to stop travelling. After that, I plan to settle somewhere sunny (prob Aussie) and set about figuring out what I really want to do.

So yeah, I'm in the rat race for now but I have an exit strategy which makes it much more bearable.

I just started a new job today, working as an admin assistant at a research hospital. It's interesting: every single real job I've had so far has been in healthcare, in some form or fashion. I got this job through a temp agency, and pretty much told the people who were interviewing me that I'm planning on getting the hell out of dodge sometime before the end of this year, so I've got that base covered, which is grand. The pay is higher than anything I've ever been paid before, which is even grander. In conclusion, it's not my "bliss," but it'll do for the time being.

I like adventures and tackling the unknown. Travel satisfies these desires, and fortunately for me, my job does as well.

I work in freelance film production, and it's pretty close to bliss. I'll work 80+ hours for a few weeks in a row, but then I can take 2 weeks off and visit my family. Or, I'll work hard for 6 months, squirrel a large chunk of it away, and travel for 6 weeks.

My main problem with my job is that it doesn't pay as well as a corporate job would, meaning it takes me quite a big longer to save for a trip. But the trade-off is that I have a job I enjoy. I get to be on film sets, and get paid for it. Every day is a new day-- new locations, new talent, new challenges...

I was offered a better paying 9-5 position a few months ago, in video production - but all my time would be spent in an office; they would give me a whopping two weeks of vacation time for an entire year... I turned it down without a second thought. In the end, I would rather be content all the time, not just when I'm travelling.

I enjoy my job. I work as a freelance video production crew in the US. Lately, I have been working more in photography as well and will likely press that as I get back into my role when I return in 2012.

I wouldnt change anything either. One day when that golden video production staff job presents itself (with retirement, paid vacation and regular checks) I will accept it. Until then, however, I will keep freelancing.

I'm a lawyer, specializing in corporate immigration and securities. I push papers around and review foreign-language documents for litigation. It can be soul-crushingly boring work, but it pays well and is very portable. In the past couple of years, I've traveled to Colombia, Mexico, and Belgium; as well as New York and Washington DC for work.